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Thursday, July 11, 2013

A reason to adopt; or why talking about our adoption is difficult for me

There are lots of reasons why a family might adopt, and there are lots of reasons why we are pursuing adoption, but I haven't really talked about the biggest one.

When people find out that we are working on an adoption process, they assume that we are going for a newborn (or as close as you can get to that in an international adoption). I tell them, no, she is actually an older child. Eleven years old, to be precise.

No, we aren't worried about birth order, you see, she has severe special needs. She is cognitively younger than our son, and smaller, as far as we can tell from our year-old file. He will be her big brother. We pray that he does a good job!

Then people ask "Why?!"

"Why would you do such a difficult thing?"

There are a lot of answers to that question, ranging from the trivial to the profound.

We like being parents.

All adoption has the potential to be very difficult, medical needs or not.

Orphans need families.

But the big one, the one that can be hard for me to say, is this: God told us to.

I have been interested in adoption ever since I was little, but not in special needs adoption.

God started planting seeds in my heart shortly after my son was born. I remember looking at my tiny boy and knowing that I would love him no matter what (by the grace of God). It didn't matter if he didn't grow up to be like other kids, if he was brilliant or delayed, if he was robust or sickly. He is my son, I thought, and I will love him always.

Around the same time I started reading Susanna Musser's blog and becoming aware of what needs there were in the world.

Then God started to yell at me.

(Side note: I am a reformed Presbyterian and tend to be pretty un-Pentecostal. I don't say that God told me to do things very much.)

I did not actually literally hear God's voice with my ears, but in order to be any more obvious I think He would have had to use audible speech. Every sermon I heard, every scripture passage I read yelled "do something!"

I tried some "somethings". I started donating to Hidden Treasures and writing notes to adoptive families. We had a family from our church over to dinner to talk about adoption (they had adopted their two daughters.)

3 comments:

I am so happy and touched reading this post. Receiving direction, promptings, and personal revelation from God through the Holy Spirit is something that I know is real. I also know that for me it is hard to give that as a reason for my actions to those who ask why I may make the choices that I do. I believe God wants us to be happy. Not everyone in this life has the opportunities we do, and He is using your happiness, blessings, and opportunities to bless and bring happiness to the lives of others, in particular your children. My great grandmother died this last January at the age of 97. She did not have an extremely large family (3 kids), but when she left this earth, she left 47 progeny. Forty-seven!! If one couple who listened to what God wanted them to do and fought faithfully to endure their trials, could leave behind 47 happy people, how blessed would the world be if we all did the same. Adoption was not part of their calling on this earth, but it sounds like it is for you ;) I think that's wonderful. Whether or not your efforts and sacrifice over this lifetime will be recognized by Garnet (or others) I do not know. I do know, however, that God knows. I also believe that when you reach the other side of this life and Garnet follows you there, oh how great will be her joy! How great will be her gratitude! She will know you and praise you and your family will continue into the eternities. I think you are awesome.

Hope has a family!

How I learned about Anastacia

Why Blog?

The purpose of this blog is twofold; it is for us and for you. It serves as a journal for us, so that we can look back and remember what we were thinking, what we were doing, and how God was working in our lives. I hope that it provides a window into the adoption process for you. All the timeline and money information is intended to be helpful to anyone who is considering international adoption.